^ Agreed. It was so touching to see him support her like that.
I teared a bit seeing Akiko like that, she's performed well so far this season and one less than stellar skate doesn't make her a non contender. I'm happy she'll get the chance to bounce back up in 4CC and Worlds. You go girl!!!

Now that we know the results of the Japanese Nationals, I was wondering if anyone wishes to change the title to Suzuki being a triple victim of underscoring?

When Osmond beat her at SC, there was huge outcry that a junior girl should not be able to beat World medalist given that the latter didn't bomb and that the win was a result of Osmond's powerful federation hosting the event. Seems to me, those people were advocating that reputation should count more than what was happening on ice, true and real pageantry.

When Asada beat her at NHK, the reasoning was switched to because Suzuki is not as pretty as Asada.

Excuse me, but "Mao won because she's prettier" was not the belief stated by the majority of posters unhappy with the NHK result. Same with "a junior girl should not be able to beat a world medalist unless the latter bombs" in the Skate Canada debate. (I don't even recall one person saying the latter). Strawman much? You are taking the most absurd arguments from both and acting like anyone who believed Suzuki deserved a higher placement believed these things.

And also, what Mathman said: no one is saying Suzuki deserved a higher placement at Japanese Nationals. I'm disappointed she didn't skate a better program, but obviously that doesn't mean she should have been placed higher just because I like her. A skater's deserved placement at one competition with one performance at one day has nothing to do with where she should be placed at a completely different event on a different day with a different skate. Apparently now that there isn't any outcry at all for you to distort and ridicule, you imagine one so you can ridicule that. Lol.